Methods, systems, and media for presenting recommended content based on social cues

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and media for presenting recommended content based on social cues are provided. In accordance with some embodiments, a method for presenting recommended content is provided comprising: receiving a query associated with a user; generating a list of relevant media content items based on the query; selecting items for presentation to the user based on social relevance scores based on social connections of the user that have consumed a relevant item and contextual relevance scores for each item; causing the selected items to be presented to the user; and indicating that a particular item was consumed by a particular social connection.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/804,734, filed Nov. 6, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/042,335, filed Sep. 30, 2013, each of which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed subject matter relates to methods, systems, and media forpresenting recommended content based on social cues.

BACKGROUND

There is an overwhelming volume of content that is available to theaverage consumer. As the volume of content continues to increase,consumers are increasingly reliant on recommendation engines and searchengines. Using these recommendation engines and search engines, contenthosting services generally attempt to present content that isinteresting to its users. In one particular example, some contenthosting services allow users to create user profiles that indicatedemographic information, such as gender or age, as well as areas ofinterest. These content hosting services then attempt to use such userprofiles to select content to provide to each of its users. Userprofiles, however, do not take into account a vast amount of informationthat can be used to determine content that the user may enjoy consuming.One example of such information is the information associated with thesocial connections corresponding to the consumer.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods, systems, and media forpresenting recommended content based on social cues.

SUMMARY

In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter,methods, systems, and media for presenting recommended content based onsocial cues.

In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter amethod for presenting recommended content is provided, the methodcomprising: receiving, using a hardware processor, a query associatedwith a user; generating a list of relevant media content items from adatabase of media content items based on the query; selecting at leastone media content item from the list of relevant media content items forpresentation to the user based at least in part on a social relevancescore for each media content item and a contextual relevance score foreach media content item, wherein the selecting further comprises:identifying one or more other users that are social connections of theuser based on various user information of the user that is indicative ofsocial connection with the other users; determining an influence scorefor each social connection based at least in part on social linksbetween the user and the social connection; determining, for each socialconnection, which media content items of the relevant media contentitems have been consumed by that social connection; determining, foreach relevant media content item consumed by a particular socialconnection, an engagement score indicative of a degree of engagementwith the media content item by that social connection; and determiningthe social relevance score for each media content item in the list ofrelevant media content items based at least in part on the influencescore and engagement score associated with each social connection thatwas determined to have consumed the media content item; causing the atleast one selected media content item to be presented to the user as aselectable media content item; and causing an indication that aparticular media content item of the presented media content items wasconsumed by a particular social connection to be presented inassociation with the particular media content item based at least inpart on the engagement score of the particular social connection for theparticular media content item.

In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, asystem for presenting recommended content is provided, the systemcomprising: a hardware processor that is programmed to: receive a queryassociated with a user; generate a list of relevant media content itemsfrom a database of media content items based on the query; select atleast one media content item from the list of relevant media contentitems for presentation to the user based at least in part on a socialrelevance score for each media content item and a contextual relevancescore for each media content item, wherein the selecting furthercomprises: identify one or more other users that are social connectionsof the user based on various user information of the user that isindicative of social connection with the other users; determine aninfluence score for each social connection based at least in part onsocial links between the user and the social connection; determine, foreach social connection, which media content items of the relevant mediacontent items have been consumed by that social connection; determine,for each relevant media content item consumed by a particular socialconnection, an engagement score indicative of a degree of engagementwith the media content item by that social connection; and determine thesocial relevance score for each media content item in the list ofrelevant media content items based at least in part on the influencescore and engagement score associated with each social connection thatwas determined to have consumed the media content item; cause the atleast one selected media content item to be presented to the user as aselectable media content item; and cause an indication that a particularmedia content item of the presented media content items was consumed bya particular social connection to be presented in association with theparticular media content item based at least in part on the engagementscore of the particular social connection for the particular mediacontent item.

In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, anon-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer executableinstructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform a method for presenting recommended content is provided, themethod comprising: receiving a query associated with a user; generatinga list of relevant media content items from a database of media contentitems based on the query; selecting at least one media content item fromthe list of relevant media content items for presentation to the userbased at least in part on a social relevance score for each mediacontent item and a contextual relevance score for each media contentitem, wherein the selecting further comprises: identifying one or moreother users that are social connections of the user based on varioususer information of the user that is indicative of social connectionwith the other users; determining an influence score for each socialconnection based at least in part on social links between the user andthe social connection; determining, for each social connection, whichmedia content items of the relevant media content items have beenconsumed by that social connection; determining, for each relevant mediacontent item consumed by a particular social connection, an engagementscore indicative of a degree of engagement with the media content itemby that social connection; and determining the social relevance scorefor each media content item in the list of relevant media content itemsbased at least in part on the influence score and engagement scoreassociated with each social connection that was determined to haveconsumed the media content item; causing the at least one selected mediacontent item to be presented to the user as a selectable media contentitem; and causing an indication that a particular media content item ofthe presented media content items was consumed by a particular socialconnection to be presented in association with the particular mediacontent item based at least in part on the engagement score of theparticular social connection for the particular media content item.

In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, amethod for presenting recommended content is provided, the methodcomprising: receiving, using a hardware processor, a query associatedwith a user; receiving a list of relevant media content items, whereinthe list of relevant media content items is generated from a database ofmedia content items based on the query; determining that a socialconnection of the user has consumed at least one media content item fromthe list of media content items and a degree of engagement by the socialconnection with the at least one media content item; determining animportance of the social connection to the user based at least in parton past social interactions between the user and the social connection;ranking the list of relevant media content items based at least in parton the importance of the social connection and that social connectionsdegree of engagement with each media content item from the list of mediacontent items; selecting one or more relevant media content items topresent to the user based on the ranking; causing the one or moreselected media content items to be presented to the user as selectablemedia content items; and causing an indication that the socialconnection consumed the item of content to be presented in associationwith any selected media content item that the social connection wasdetermined to have consumed.

In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, asystem for presenting recommended content is provided, the systemcomprising: means for receiving a query associated with a user; meansfor generating a list of relevant media content items from a database ofmedia content items based on the query; means for selecting at least onemedia content item from the list of relevant media content items forpresentation to the user based at least in part on a social relevancescore for each media content item and a contextual relevance score foreach media content item, wherein the means for selecting furthercomprises: means for identifying one or more other users that are socialconnections of the user based on various user information of the userthat is indicative of social connection with the other users; means fordetermining an influence score for each social connection based at leastin part on social links between the user and the social connection;means for determining, for each social connection, which media contentitems of the relevant media content items have been consumed by thatsocial connection; means for determining, for each relevant mediacontent item consumed by a particular social connection, an engagementscore indicative of a degree of engagement with the media content itemby that social connection; and means determining the social relevancescore for each media content item in the list of relevant media contentitems based at least in part on the influence score and engagement scoreassociated with each social connection that was determined to haveconsumed the media content item; means for causing the at least oneselected media content item to be presented to the user as a selectablemedia content item; and means for causing an indication that aparticular media content item of the presented media content items wasconsumed by a particular social connection to be presented inassociation with the particular media content item based at least inpart on the engagement score of the particular social connection for theparticular media content item.

In some embodiments, the query is received as a search query specifiedby the user.

In some embodiments, the query is automatically generated based onmetadata of a media content item consumed by the user.

In some embodiments, user information of the user that is indicative ofsocial connection with the other users includes at least one of thefollowing: the existence of reciprocal links in a social network betweenthe user and the other user; information indicating that the user is afollower of the other user; and information indicating that the user andthe other user have exchanged electronic messages.

In some embodiments, social links between the user and the socialconnection include at least one of: a designation of the socialconnection as a particular type of social connection by the user; afrequency of communication between the user and the social connection; aresponse time to communications from the social connection; and afrequency of interaction with items shared by the social connection on asocial networking service on which the user is connected to the socialconnection.

In some embodiments, the engagement score is based at least in part on apercentage of the item of content consumed by the social contact.

In some embodiments, the media content item is a video.

In accordance with some embodiments, a system for presenting recommendedcontent is provided, the system comprising: means for receiving a queryassociated with a user; means for receiving a list of relevant mediacontent items, wherein the list of relevant media content items isgenerated from a database of media content items based on the query;means for determining that a social connection of the user has consumedat least one media content item from the list of media content items anda degree of engagement by the social connection with the at least onemedia content item; means for determining an importance of the socialconnection to the user based at least in part on past socialinteractions between the user and the social connection; means forranking the list of relevant media content items based at least in parton the importance of the social connection and that social connectionsdegree of engagement with each media content item from the list of mediacontent items; means for selecting one or more relevant media contentitems to present to the user based on the ranking; means for causing theone or more selected media content items to be presented to the user asselectable media content items; and means for causing an indication thatthe social connection consumed the item of content to be presented inassociation with any selected media content item that the socialconnection was determined to have consumed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various objects, features, and advantages of the disclosed subjectmatter can be more fully appreciated with reference to the followingdetailed description of the disclosed subject matter when considered inconnection with the following drawings, in which like reference numeralsidentify like elements.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a process for presenting recommended contentbased on social cues in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosed subject matter.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a process for ranking relevant content basedon engagement with the content by social connections of a user inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a user interface for presenting recommendedcontent items based on social cues in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosed subject matter.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an illustrative system suitable forimplementation of the mechanisms described herein for presentingrecommended content based on social cues in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosed subject matter.

FIG. 5 shows a detailed example of a user device and a server of FIG. 4that can be used in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosedsubject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with various embodiments, mechanisms (which can includemethods, systems, and/or media) for presenting recommended content basedon social cues.

In some embodiments, the mechanisms described herein can receive arequest to identify recommended content to be presented to a user basedon a query associated with the user. Recommended content can include anysuitable media content item or items, which can include videos, images,articles, blog posts, any other suitable media content items, or anysuitable combination of such media content items. In some embodiments, arequest to identify recommended content can be received from anysuitable source and can include a query associated with the user. Forexample, the request to identify recommended content can be issued inresponse to a user reaching the end of a media content item that iscurrently being consumed by the user. In this example, the query can bebased on metadata of the media content item that is currently beingconsumed. Recommended content generated from such a query can be similarto the media content item that the user was consuming. In someembodiments, a list of relevant media content items can be generatedbased on the query.

In some embodiments, the list of relevant media content items can beranked using any suitable factors for ranking the relevant media contentitems. For example, the relevant media content items can be ranked basedon how closely the metadata or content of the media content itemsmatches the query. As another example, the relevant media content itemscan be ranked based on the popularity of each of the relevant mediacontent items. Additionally, in some embodiments, the relevant mediacontent items can be ranked based on whether a particular relevant mediacontent item was consumed by a social connection of the user associatedwith the query. In such embodiments, ranking can take into account aninfluence that a particular social connection is likely to have on theuser. Determining such influence can be based on one or more factorsthat indicate how influential the social connection is likely to be,such as the way in which the user is connected to the social connection,how often the user communicates with the social connection, how similarthe user's and the social connection's interests are, etc.

In some embodiments, the relevant media content can be ranked based on adegree of engagement with a relevant media content item by a socialconnection of the user. For example, if a social connection demonstrateda relatively high degree of engagement with a particular media contentitem, this can indicate that the particular media content item should beranked more highly because the user will be more likely to demonstratemore engagement with the media content item. A degree of engagement witha media content item can be demonstrated from various actions performedby a user and/or a social connection of a user. For example, the more ofa media content item that a user or social connection consumes, thehigher the degree of engagement with the media content item. The amountof a media content item consumed can be measured using any suitabletechnique or combination of techniques and can be based on timinginformation, scrolling information, page requests, or any other suitableinformation. As another example, if a user or social connection providesa comment on a media content item (e.g., using a comments section, usinga social messaging platform, etc.), this can demonstrate a greaterdegree of engagement with the media content item. As yet anotherexample, if a user or social connection shares the media content item(e.g., using email, a social networking service, etc.), this candemonstrate a greater degree of engagement with the media content item.

In some embodiments, the influence of a social connection that hasconsumed a particular media content item and the degree of engagement ofthat social connection with the media content item can be used as socialcues in ranking media content to be presented as recommended mediacontent in response to a query. One or more of these social cues can beused to determine a likelihood that a user will enjoy, or at leastengage with, a particular media content item. Presenting the user withmedia content items that the user is more likely to engage with as partof a recommendation can increase the likelihood that the user continuesconsuming content from a media content platform or video hosting serviceusing the mechanisms described herein.

In some embodiments, one or more of the recommended media content itemsthat are ranked based on social cues can be presented to the user asmedia content items that the user can select. Selection of the mediacontent items can cause the selected media content item to be presentedto the user. Additionally, in some embodiments, an indication can bepresented with the media content items that have been consumed by asocial connection indicating an identity of the social connection thatconsumed the media content item. This can further encourage the user toselect the media content item because they may value the opinions of thesocial connection and/or may have similar tastes as the socialconnection.

In a more particular example, these mechanisms can determine socialconnections that are associated with the user. These social connectionscan include, for example, friends, family members, acquaintances,professional contacts, experts, etc. As described above, a subset ofthese social connections can be determined as being more influentialand/or more important than other social connections to the user (e.g.,based on category, based on past interactions, etc.). In response to theuser consuming content, such as watching a particular video relating tocats, the mechanisms can analyze and use the social connections,information relating to the social connections, and/or other suitablesocial cues to determine contextually-relevant and socially-relevantvideos for recommendation to the user. For example, the mechanisms candetermine contextually-relevant videos based on the currently consumedvideo (e.g., based on keywords, metadata, captions, comments, hashtags,etc.) and then use social cues to determine a subset of thecontextually-relevant videos that are also socially-relevant to theuser. In addition, the mechanisms can provide an indicator that a socialconnection has interacted with the video (e.g., watched the video,recommended the video, rated the video, shared the video, etc.). Inconnection with the example above, in response to watching the videorelating to cats, the mechanisms can recommend a subset ofcontextually-relevant videos (e.g., other videos relating to keywords,such as cats and humor) that are socially-relevant (e.g., based on acontextually-relevant video being shown to a social connection and basedon performance with that social connection), where an indicator can bepresented with one or more of these videos (e.g., a face image of asocial connection within the video item indicating that the socialconnection watched and/or liked the video).

It should be noted that, although the embodiments described hereingenerally relate to presenting recommended video content items based onsocial cues, this is merely illustrative. Any suitable media content canbe recommended to a user based on social cues, such as news content orimages.

It should also be noted that, in situations in which the mechanismsdescribed herein collect personal information about users, or may makeuse of personal information, the users may be provided with anopportunity to control whether programs or features collect userinformation (e.g., information about a user's social network, socialactions or activities, a user's preferences, or a user's currentlocation), or to control whether and/or how to receive content from thecontent server that may be more relevant to the user. For example, theusers may be provided with an opportunity to provide authorization forcollecting and/or analyzing user information from each individualprogram or application (e.g., a messaging application, a socialnetworking application, a video playback application, etc.). Inaddition, certain data may be treated in one or more ways before it isstored or used, so that personally identifiable information is removed.For example, a user's identity may be treated so that no personallyidentifiable information can be determined for the user, or a user'sgeographic location may be generalized where location information isobtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that aparticular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user mayhave control over how information is collected about the user and usedby a content server.

Turning to FIG. 1, an example of a process 100 for presentingrecommended content based on social cues is shown in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. As shown in FIG. 1,process 100 can receive a query associated with a user at 102. In someembodiments, the query can be received in any suitable form and can bereceived based on a request initiated by the user, or automatically aspart of a recommendation engine, or the like. For example, the query canbe received based on search terms entered into a search user interfacethat is part of a media content platform (e.g., a platform forpresenting text, images, videos, etc.) that the user is signed into. Asanother example, the query can be received based on the user submittinga request for recommended media content (e.g., by selecting a userinterface element, or the like, for requesting recommended content) froma media content platform to which the user is signed in. As yet anotherexample, the query can be received automatically based on one or morecriterion being met, such as a particular event occurring. In a moreparticular example, the query can be received based on the user reachingthe end of a particular item of media content (e.g., the end of a video,the end of an article, etc.). In another more particular example, thequery can be received based on the user signing into or loading a mediacontent platform. In yet another more particular example, the query canbe received based on a predetermined period of time having passed sincerecommended content was last generated (e.g., a query to generate a listof recommended content can be presented periodically for a particularuser).

In some embodiments, the query received at 102 can be based on anysuitable inputs used to form the query. For example, the query receivedat 102 can be based on keywords, operators (such as AND, OR), etc.,entered by a user in a search user interface (e.g., a search field asdescribed below in connection with FIG. 3). As another example, thequery received at 102 can be based on metadata of content that a user iscurrently consuming and/or has previously consumed. As yet anotherexample, the query received at 102 can be based on metadata associatedwith the user with which the query is associated.

At 104, process 100 can receive a list of relevant media content itemsbased on the query. In some embodiments, the list of relevant mediacontent items can be generated using any suitable technique ortechniques. For example, the query received at 102 can be used as aninput to a process (running on the same or a different device than thedevice running process 100) for generating contextually relevant resultsbased on the query. As another example, for certain queries (e.g.,queries based on metadata from a particular media content item) lists ofrelevant media content items can be generated when the media contentitem is posted and/or periodically to incorporate newly posted contentin the list of relevant media content for that media content item. Insuch an example, the query received at 102 can include identifyinginformation that can be used to retrieve a list of relevant content froma database that includes lists of relevant content for certain queriesthat have already been performed.

In some embodiments, relevant media content can be determined using anysuitable technique or combination of techniques. For example, a searchengine can be used to generate a list of relevant media content itemsusing the query as one input to the search engine. As another example,tags identifying a media content item as being relevant to a particulartopic and/or a particular subject can be used in generating a list ofrelevant media content based on other content having the same or similartags. As still another example, users can select certain media contentitems as being relevant to a particular media content item. As yetanother example, a particular user (such as the owner of the content, anadministrator, a group of users designated to make determinations as towhich content is related, etc.) can create a curated list of mediacontent items relevant to a particular media content item.

At 106, process 100 can determine, for each media content item in thelist of relevant media content items received at 104, whether any socialconnection of the user is known to have consumed that media contentitem. In some embodiments, a social connection of the user can be anyother user that is connected to the user through a social link. Sociallinks can include, for example, affirmative connections on one or moresocial networking services (e.g., “following” the other user by creatinga one-way connection to the user, by requesting a mutual connection tothe other user, etc.). In some embodiments, such affirmative connectionscan be grouped by a user into various categories denoting the user'srelationship to the other users that are social connections. Anysuitable categories can be used, such as family, friend, acquaintance,business connection, etc. As another example, social links can includeconnections implied through interactions between the user and otherusers. Such interactions can include one-way communications such asemail, voicemail, etc., and/or two-way communication such as videoconferencing, phone calls, chats/instant messaging, etc. As yet anotherexample, social links can include implied social connections that aredetermined based on observed actions of the user such as by consuming,rating, and/or commenting on media content items of the other user(e.g., media content items that are owned by, uploaded by, created by,etc., the other user). In some embodiments, social connections of theuser can include only those users that have at least a threshold levelof social links to the user, and that are users of the media contentplatform using process 100 (e.g., the other user has created an accountassociated with the media content platform, the other user has consumedand/or engaged with media content items on the media content platform,etc.).

It should be noted that, in situations in which the mechanisms describedherein collect personal information about users, or can make use ofpersonal information, the users can be provided with an opportunity tocontrol whether programs or features collect user information (e.g.,information about which media content items a user has consumed,information about engagement of a user with a media content item, etc.),or to control whether and/or how to receive instructions from the serverto use social cues in ranking recommended media content. In addition,certain data can be treated in one or more ways before it is stored orused, so that personally identifiable information is removed. Forexample, a user's identity can be treated so that no personallyidentifiable information can be determined for the user, or a user'sgeographic location can be generalized where location information isobtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that aparticular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user canhave control over how information is collected about the user and usedby a recommendation server and/or other server associated with themechanisms described herein.

In some embodiments, each user can have an associated history thatincludes identifying information of media content items consumed by theuser. Such a history can also include information related to the user'sengagement with the media content item, as described below in connectionwith 108 of FIGS. 1 and 208 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, each time auser consumes a media content item (e.g., a video, article, etc.),identifying information of the media content item, engagementinformation, timing information, etc., related to the media content itemcan be stored in the history for that user. In some embodiments, historyinformation is only stored for the user if the user affirmativelyconsents to the media content platform collecting such historyinformation. Such affirmative consent can be given in any suitable form,such as through agreeing to terms of use for the media content platform,creating an account and/or signing into an account associated with themedia content platform, selecting an option to receive recommendationsin settings associated with a user account, any other suitable techniqueor techniques, or any suitable combination of such techniques.

In some embodiments, at 106, process 100 can check history information(or request that such history information be checked) of each socialconnection of the user with regard to each media content item includedin the list of relevant media content items to determine whether aparticular social connection consumed a particular relevant mediacontent item. The history for each social connection can be checkedusing any suitable technique or combination of techniques. For example,histories for users can be maintained in a database, and the historiescan be checked based on identifying information of the user and/oridentifying information of the relevant media content item.

At 108, process 100 can rank the relevant media content items based atleast in part on social cues related to each relevant media contentitem. Social cues can include whether a social connection of the userconsumed the relevant media content item, a social influence of thesocial connection that consumed the relevant media content item (e.g.,as described below in connection with 204 of FIG. 2), a level ofengagement by the social connection with the relevant media content item(e.g., as described below in connection with 208 of FIG. 2), and/or anyother social cues related to the relevant media content item. In someembodiments, a combination of these social cues can be used, at least inpart, to rank the list of relevant media content items.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, other factors can beused to rank the list of relevant media content items. For example, eachrelevant media content item can be associated with a degree ofcontextual relevance that can reflect how relevant the media contentitem is to the query. Such a degree of contextual relevance can bedetermined using any suitable techniques, and can for example, reflecthow similar the subject of a relevant media content item is to thesubject of a media content item used as the basis for the query receivedat 102. As another example, a popularity of each relevant media contentitem can be used in determining the ranking of the media content items.The popularity of each relevant media content item can be based onvarious measurements of popularity, such as the total number of requestsfor the media content item, an acceleration or deceleration in requestsfor the media content item (e.g., a change in the number of requests perday, per week, etc.), a number of times the media content has beenshared, the number of mentions and/or links to the content on socialnetworking services, a popularity in a recent period of time, ameasurement that the media content item has been viewed a consistentnumber of times since being uploaded to a content server, a rapidlygrowing number of views of the media content item that began with a lownumber of views, etc. As still another example, whether the relevantmedia content item is a featured media content item for any reason(e.g., because that media content item is especially popular, topical,affiliated with a user that is a featured user, etc.) can be used inranking the media content items. Any other suitable factors can be takeninto account when ranking the relevant media content items.

At 110, process 100 can cause one or more of the relevant media contentitems to be presented as a result of the query. In some embodiments, theresults can be presented using any suitable technique or combination oftechniques, and can be presented in any suitable location within a userinterface for discovering and/or presenting media content items from amedia content platform using process 100. For example, process 100 cancause a predetermined number of top ranked relevant media content itemsto be presented in a user interface portion for presenting media contentfrom the media content platform. In such an example, the basis for thequery received at 102 can be a media content item that the user iscurrently consuming (e.g., watching, reading, etc.) and which ispresented in a particular portion of a user interface. The top relevantresults returned in response to the query and ranked (e.g., as describedabove in connection with 108) can be caused to be presented in the areaof a user interface that was being used to present the media contentitem that was the basis of the query. A more particular example isdescribed below in connection with FIG. 3. As another example, process100 can cause a predetermined number of top ranked relevant mediacontent items to be presented in a portion of a user interface forconsuming media content that is near a portion of the user interfaceused for presenting media content for consumption by the user (e.g., ona side of the user interface). As yet another example, process 100 cancause a predetermined number of top ranked relevant media content itemsto be presented in a portion of a home page or landing page of the mediacontent platform as a list in a portion of the page for presenting alist recommended content that the user may wish to consume. As stillanother example, process 100 can cause a predetermined number of topranked relevant media content items to be sent as a message to the user(e.g., as part of an email, text message, instant message, mobileapplication notification, etc.).

In some embodiments, the one or more ranked media content items can bepresented in any suitable form. For example, the one or more rankedmedia content items can be presented as a list which can include linksto the media content items, images (e.g., thumbnails), text (e.g.,title, description, summary, etc.), a rating, a popularity, or any othersuitable information. As another example, the one or more ranked mediacontent items can be presented in a grid of recommended media contentitems that can include any suitable information about the ranked mediacontent items.

At 112, process 100 can cause an indication to be presented with mediacontent items that have been consumed by a social connection of theuser. Any suitable indication can be presented to indicate that themedia content item has consumed by a social connection of the user. Suchan indication can, in some embodiments, be indicative of an identity ofthe social connection that consumed the media content. For example, animage associated with the social connection can be presented inassociation with the media content item (e.g., an image of the socialconnection can be retrieved from a social networking service). Asanother example, a username, handle, nickname, legal name, etc., of thesocial connection can be presented in association with the media contentitem. Alternatively, an indication can be silent as to the identity ofthe social connection (or social connections) that consumed the mediacontent item, and merely indicate that a social connection (or a numberof social connections) of the user consumed the media content item.

In some embodiments, multiple indications can be presented for a mediacontent item that has been consumed by multiple social connections. Insuch embodiments, the indications can be presented in any suitable wayto indicate that multiple social connections have consumed the mediacontent item, such as by presenting the multiple indications as thoughthey are stacked on top of one another, or using any other suitabletechnique or techniques for showing a user that there are multipleindications. Further, one or more of such indications can be presentedmore prominently than others of the indications. An order ofpresentation of the indications can be based on a determination as tothe importance of each social connection with respect to the particularmedia content item that was consumed. Alternatively, in someembodiments, a single indication can be presented for a media contentitem that has been consumed by multiple social connections. In suchembodiments, a social connection to be presented can be based on adetermination as to the importance of each social connection withrespect to the particular media content item that was consumed.

In some embodiments, an indication that a social connection has consumeda media content item can be presented only if it is determined that thesocial connection engaged with the media content item to a predetermineddegree. For example, an amount of the media content item consumed or apercentage of the media content item consumed can indicate theengagement with the media content item. In another example, providing arating for the media content item or sharing the media content item canindicate the engagement with the media content item. These and otherexamples of engagement with a media content item are described above inconnection with 108 of FIG. 1 and below in connection with 208 of FIG.2.

In some embodiments, an indication that a social connection has consumeda media content item can be presented only if the social connection tooksome public action regarding the media content item. Such a publicaction can include any suitable action that results in the user beingable to discern that the social connection consumed the media content.For example, a public action can include the social connection sharingthe media content item on a social network on which the user can view(or otherwise discern) the social connection's sharing of the mediacontent item. In another example, a public action can include that thesocial connection commented on the media content item in apublicly-available comments section associated with the media contentitem. In yet another example, a public action can include that thesocial connection communicated with the user about the media contentitem (e.g., using any suitable messaging service). In yet a furtherexample, a public action can include that the social connection providedan indication of liking the media content item (e.g., a like, a plusone, a thumbs up, or any other suitable positive indication).

At 114, process 100 can receive an indication that the user selected andconsumed a media content item that was consumed by a social connectionof the user. In some embodiments, such an indication can be used byprocess 100 when determining the importance of the social connection(e.g., as described above in connection with 108 of FIG. 1 and asdescribed below in connection with 204 of FIG. 2). For example, if theuser consumes a media content item that was consumed by a socialconnection, process 100 can use this information to determine that thesocial connection is more influential (e.g., because the user and thesocial connection have shown an interest in similar media content) withregards to at least a subject or topic of the consumed media contentitem.

Additionally or alternatively, at 114, process 100 can receive anindication of the user's engagement with the selected media content itemthat was consumed by the social connection. In some embodiments, theengagement of the user with the media content can be used by process 100when determining the importance and/or influence of the socialconnection (e.g., as described above in connection with 108 of FIG. 1and as described below in connection with 204 of FIG. 2). For example,if the user navigates away from the media content after a relativelyshort time and/or after consuming a relatively small portion of themedia content item, this can indicate that the user is not interested inthe media content. This can, in turn, indicate that the socialconnection should be given less importance in the future for mediacontent like the media content item with low engagement by the user. Asanother example, if the user rates the media content poorly or otherwiseindicates a dislike of the content, this can also indicate that the useris not interested in the media content.

Turning to FIG. 2, an example 200 of a process for determining a socialrelevance score for use in ranking media content items is shown inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. Insome embodiments, process 200 can be used in determining the importanceof social connections of a user and/or in ranking relevant media contentitems at 108 of process 100. At 202, process 200 can identify users thatare social connections of the user associated with the query. Anysuitable technique or combination of techniques can be used to identifysocial connections, for example, as described above in connection with106 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, process 200 can identify only socialconnections that have consumed media content in a list of relevant mediacontent (e.g., as received at 104).

At 204, process 200 can determine an influence score for each socialconnection. Such an influence score can be specific to a particularmedia content item (e.g., based on the subject matter or a category ofthe media content item), and/or generally applicable to all mediacontent items. In some embodiments, the influence score for a socialconnection can be based at least in part on social links between theuser and the social connection. As described above in connection withFIG. 1, social links can include any suitable information that isindicative of a social relationship between the user and the socialconnection. In some embodiments, the influence score of a socialconnection can be an objective score for the social connection based onrelevant factors. Additionally or alternatively, the influence score canbe a subjective score for the social connection based on the user'ssocial links to the social connection as compared to social links toother social connections. In some embodiments, an influence score canhave an objective component and a subjective component. For example, theinfluence score can have objective components based on the number oftimes that the user has communicated with the social connection (e.g.,via email, instant messaging, through a social messaging service, etc.).As another example, the influence score can have subjective componentsbased on the number of times that the user has communicated with thesocial connection in comparison to the number of times that the user hascommunicated with other social connections.

In some embodiments, any suitable social links can be factored into theinfluence score using any suitable techniques in determining theinfluence of the social connection on the user. For example, thefrequency and/or velocity of communication between the user and a socialconnection can be used to determine a social influence score. In thisexample, the velocity of communications can include how long a usertakes to respond to a particular message from a social connection.Additionally, a type of message and/or communication that the user issending, receiving, taking part in, and/or exchanging with the socialconnection can be used in determining an influence of the socialconnection. For example, messages and/or communications that are morepersonal and/or are real-time two-way communication can be weighted morehighly than messages that are non-real-time or messages that are one-waycommunications (e.g., the social connection and/or the user neverresponds to the messages, or the messages are not intended to beresponded to). In a more particular example, phone calls, videoconferences, and instant messages can be weighted more highly thanemail, posting on the user or social connection's social network serviceprofile, mentioning the user or social connection in a post on a socialnetworking profile or social networking service, etc.

In some embodiments, social links can be aged out using any suitabletechnique or techniques, such that older communications, and the like,can be considered less important when determining an importance and/orinfluence score of a particular social connection. For example, a sociallink (e.g., communications, posts, etc.) can expire when it exceeds anage threshold. As another example, a weight associated with a particularsocial link can decay over time according to any suitable schedule.Additionally, these examples and/or any other suitable techniques can beused to give a higher weight to more recent social links between a userand a particular social connection in determining an influence score ofthat social connection. As another example, a classification of thesocial connection by the user can be used in determining the influencescore for the social user (e.g., as described above in connection with106 of FIG. 1 above).

In some embodiments, activity by the user and/or the social connectionthat indicates a real-world relationship between the user and the socialconnection can be used in determining a social influence score. Forexample, if the user and the social connection are in the same image(e.g., if the user and the social connection are tagged as being thesubjects of an image) on a social networking service, or the like, thiscan indicate that the users have a real-world relationship. As anotherexample, if the user and the social connection responded that they areboth attending the same real-world event (e.g., a birthday party, ameeting), this can indicate that the users have a real-worldrelationship. As yet another example, if the user and the socialconnection are in the same location during a relatively short period oftime (e.g., if the users both post their location to a social networkingservice), this can indicate that the users have a real-worldrelationship. In some embodiments, the more indications there are thatthe user and the social connection have a real-world relationship, thehigher the influence score of the social connection can be.

In some embodiments, the influence score can be based at least in parton whether the user and the social connection share common interests.These common interests can be determined using any suitable techniques,such as subjects and/or categories of content that the user hasidentified as interests in a user profile on a social networkingservice, subjects and/or categories in which the user has shown aninterest in comments and/or posts (e.g., based on words that the userused, tags that the user used, etc.), subjects and/or categories thatthe user has shown an interest in through consuming media contentrelated to those subjects and/or categories, subjects and/or categoriesthat the user has shown an interest in through search queries entered ina search engine by the user related to those subjects and/or categories,subjects and/or categories that the user has shown an interest inthrough purchases of products and/or services related to those subjectsand/or categories. In some embodiments, certain subjects and/orcategories can be excluded from analysis for any suitable reason, suchas due to privacy concerns related to the subject and/or category, dueto the subject and/or category having a social stigma, due to thesubject and/or category being selected by the user as a subject and/orcategory to exclude from recommendations, and/or for any other suitablereason.

In some embodiments, the influence score can be based at least in parton the social connection being an influential user for a particularsubject and/or category of media content. For example, a celebrity chefcan be an influential user for media content related to food. As anotherexample, a well-known sportscaster can be an influential user for mediacontent related to sports. As yet another example, a well-knownpolitician can be an influential user for media content related topolitics and/or public policy. Any suitable technique or techniques canbe used in determining whether a particular user is an influential userfor a particular subject and/or category. For example, a number of otherusers that follow or subscribe to the user and the interests of thoseusers can be used in determining a subject-specific influence of theuser. As another example, information known about the user and thatuser's influence with regard to a particular subject and/or category ofmedia content (e.g., based on articles and/or profile information of theuser) can be used in determining a subject-specific influence of theuser.

At 206, process 200 can determine which media content items from a listof relevant media content items (e.g., a list of relevant media contentitems received at 102, as described above in connection with FIG. 1)have been consumed by each social connection of the user (or if eachsocial connection has consumed any of the relevant content items). Anysuitable technique or techniques can be used to determine which mediacontent items have been consumed by the user's social connections. Forexample, any of the techniques described above in connection with 106 ofFIG. 1 can be used to determine whether a social connection of the userhas consumed the media content item.

At 208, for each media content item consumed by a particular socialconnection of the user, process 200 can determine an engagement scorebased on indicia of engagement with the media content item by the socialconnection. In some embodiments, an indicia of engagement with the mediacontent item can be used in determining the engagement score. Theseindicia can each indicate how engaged the social connection of the userwas with the media content item. A level of engagement can be used as aproxy for how much the social connection enjoyed consuming the mediacontent, how interesting the social connection found the media content,how passionate the social connection is about the subject of the mediacontent, or any other emotions related to engagement with the mediacontent.

In some embodiments, any suitable indicia of engagement with the mediacontent can be used in determining a degree of engagement and/or anengagement score for a particular user (e.g., a user associated with aquery, a social connection of the user, etc.). For example, an amount ofthe media content item consumed of the total media content item can beused as an indicia of engagement. In a more particular example, fortimed media content, such as videos, music, podcasts, etc., a percentageof the media content item presented to the user can indicate the amountof engagement with the media content item. If a user stops, skips orotherwise navigates away from particular media content it can indicatethat the user is not interested in the media content. As anotherexample, a rating given to content by a user can be used as an indiciaof engagement. In another more particular example, if the user rated themedia content highly, this can indicate that the user was engaged withthe media content. As yet another example, whether a user shared an itemof media content can be used as an indicia of engagement. In yet anothermore particular example, if a user shares a media content item to asocial networking service, via email, using a social messaging service,or shares the content using any other suitable technique or techniques,this can indicate that the user is highly engaged with the mediacontent. As still another example, a number of times the user hasconsumed an item of media content and/or a total amount of time spentconsuming the media content can be used as an indicia of engagement. Instill another more particular example, if a user chooses to re-watch avideo multiple times, this can indicate that the user is highly engagedwith the video. In a further example, whether a user commented on amedia content item and/or how many comments the user made about themedia content item can be used as an indicia of engagement.

In some embodiments, different indicia of engagement by a particularsocial connection can be weighted and combined to calculate theengagement score. These indicia can be assigned any suitable valuesand/or can be normalized using any suitable technique or techniques. Theweighted indicia can be combined using any suitable techniques, such asby computing a weighted average, by adding the weighted indicia, bymultiplying the weighted indicia, and/or using any other suitabletechniques.

In some embodiments, different indicia can have different weights. Suchweights can be uniform across all users or can be individualized basedon a particular user's actions. For example, if a particular user doesnot comment often on media content, an amount of commenting can beweighted more highly. This can be used to indicate that if a usercommented on a particular media content item the user's engagement withthe media content is considered higher because it is unusual for theuser to comment. By contrast, for a user that comments on a large numberof videos, but does not often re-watch videos, commenting can beweighted less highly and re-watching can be weighted more highly.

At 210, process 200 can determine a social relevance score for eachsocial connection for a particular media content item and/or candetermine an aggregated social relevance score across all socialconnections for a particular media content item. In some embodiments,the social relevance score can be based on the social influence score ofa social connection that consumed the particular media content item andthat user's engagement score for the particular media content item. Insome embodiments, the influence score and the engagement score can becombined using any suitable technique and/or techniques. For example,the engagement score can be a multiplier for the influence score. Asanother example, the engagement score and the influence score can beaveraged (or a weighted average can be performed, with the weightsdetermined using any suitable technique or techniques). In someembodiments, the social relevance score can be normalized using anysuitable technique or techniques. Additionally, scores from multiplesocial connections for the same media content item can be aggregatedusing any suitable techniques such as by averaging, adding, multiplying,and/or any other suitable technique.

In some embodiments, ranking of a list of relevant media content at 108can include combining the social relevance score determined at 210 witha contextual relevance score that is based on a closeness between themedia content item and the query. Additionally, the scores can beweighted based on a relative importance of the social relevance scoreand the contextual relevance score, which can depend on a type of querythat is received, in some embodiments. For example, a query from asearch field can give more importance (e.g., a higher weight) to acontextual relevance score, because the search results may be resultsthat are most relevant to the query. On the other hand, a query for arecommendation upon reaching the end of a media content item can givemore importance to the social relevance score, because the results maybe results that are most likely to be attractive to the user (e.g., theresults are intended to facilitate the user to consume more mediacontent).

In some embodiments, as described above in connection with 108, otherfactors can be used in ranking the list of relevant media content, suchas the popularity of the content, how recently the content waspublished, etc.

FIG. 3 shows an example 300 of a user interface for presenting one ormore ranked media content items with an indication of a socialconnection that consumed the media content items in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosed subject matter. User interface 300 can beused, for example, to present media content items from a media contentplatform that provides access to media content items. As shown in FIG.3, user interface 300 can include a media presentation portion 302,which can be used for presenting one or more media content items. In amore particular example, media presentation portion 302 can be used forpresenting a video requested by a user (e.g., by selecting a video toplay from a link, a list of videos, recommended videos, etc.).

In some embodiments, at the conclusion of a video being presented usingmedia presentation portion 302, the mechanisms described herein can beused to generate a list of recommended videos 304 to be presented to theuser in media presentation portion 302. Such recommended videos 304 canbe generated using processes 100 and/or process 200, in which the querycan be based on metadata or other data associated with the video thatjust concluded. As described above in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2,recommended videos 304 can be ranked using various factors, such ascontextual relevance to the query (e.g., how similar the videos are tothe video that just concluded), popularity, an influence of a socialconnection of the user that watched the video, a degree of engagement ofa social connection of the user with the video, any other suitablefactors, and/or any suitable combination of factors.

In some embodiments, recommended videos 304 can be presented in rankedorder with the video with the highest ranking and/or highest score beingpresented at the top left and the ranking proceeding in order in a leftto right fashion. It should be noted that the position at which the topranked video is presented and how the subsequently ranked videos arepresented can be based on cultural and/or social norms in a region inwhich the content it being presented. For example, in regions where thedominant language is written and read from left to right, the top rankedvideo (e.g., video #1) can be presented in the top-left corner, and thevideos of lower rank can be presented from left to right. As anotherexample, in regions where the dominant language is written and readright to left, the top ranked video can be presented in the top-rightcorner, and the videos of lower rank can be presented from right toleft.

In some embodiments, the query can be associated with a user 306 that issigned into a media content platform that is being used to watch videos(e.g., a video being presented in portion 302, recommended videos 304,etc.). User 306 can be a user associated with queries used to generate alist of recommended media content items (e.g., videos) to present to theuser. For example, the list of recommended media content items caninclude recommended videos 304, as shown in FIG. 3, but the mechanismsdescribed herein are not limited to presenting recommended content touser 306 at the conclusion of other content being consumed by user 306.As another example, the list of recommended media content items caninclude a list of media content items returned in response to a queryentered into search user interface 308. Other examples of techniques forgenerating queries and/or techniques for presenting a recommended mediacontent items to a user are described above in connection with FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, an indicator 310 can be presented in associationwith videos that have been consumed by a social connection of the user.Indicator 310 can include any suitable information for indicating that asocial connection of user 306 watched the video associated withindicator 310. For example, indicator 310 can include a profile pictureof the social connection (e.g., from a profile of the social connectionon a media content platform used for presenting recommended videos 304,from a profile of the social connection on a social networking servicerelated to the media content platform used for presenting recommendedvideos 304, from a profile of the social connection on a socialnetworking service that the social connection linked to the mediacontent platform used for presenting recommended videos 304, etc.). Asanother example, selecting indicator 310 using any suitable technique(e.g., by hovering a pointer over indicator 310, by clicking on ortouching a location that corresponds to indicator 310, etc.) can causeinformation about a social connection or social connections thatconsumed the media content to be presented. Such information can bepresented using any suitable techniques. Presenting indicator 310 may,in some cases, make a user (e.g., user 306) more likely to watch arecommended video associated with indicator 310.

In some embodiments, indicator 310 can be presented only if the socialconnection that watched the video performed an action that can be seenby user 306 indicating that the user watched and/or engaged with thevideo (e.g., as described above in connection with 112 of FIG. 1).Additionally or alternatively, indicator 310 can be presented withoutidentifying information about the social connection (e.g., if the socialconnection has not performed an action visible to user 306, if thesocial connection has certain privacy settings, in cases where identityinformation of social connections that consume a media content item arenot disclosed, etc.). In some embodiments, recommended videos 304 can bepresented without indicators 310 while still taking into account whethera social connection of the user watched a particular video when rankingrecommended videos 304.

Although a particular technique is shown for presenting recommendedvideos 304 and indicators 310, this is not intended to be limiting andany suitable technique or combination of techniques can be used forpresenting recommended videos 304 and indicators 310.

FIG. 4 shows an example 400 of a generalized schematic diagram of asystem on which the mechanisms for presenting recommended content basedon social cues as described herein can be implemented in accordance withsome embodiments. As illustrated, system 400 can include one or moreuser devices 410. User devices 410 can be local to each other or remotefrom each other. User devices 410 can be connected by one or morecommunications links 408 to a communication network 406 that can belinked to a server 402 via a communications link 404.

System 400 can include one or more servers 402. Server 402 can be anysuitable server for providing access to the mechanisms described hereinfor presenting recommended content based on social cues, such as aprocessor, a computer, a data processing device, or any suitablecombination of such devices. For example, the mechanisms for presentingrecommended content based on social cues can be distributed intomultiple backend components and multiple frontend components and/or userinterfaces. In a more particular example, backend components, such asmechanisms for receiving queries for recommended content, generatinglists of relevant content, ranking the relevant content to generate alist of recommended content, causing recommended media content items tobe presented to a user, etc., can be performed on one or more servers402. In another particular example, frontend components, such aspresentation of a user interface for presenting the recommended mediacontent, initiating queries for recommended content, presenting anindication that a social connection consumed a recommended media contentitem, etc., can be performed on one or more user devices 410.

In some embodiments, each of the user devices 410, and server 402 can beany of a general purpose device such as a computer or a special purposedevice such as a client, a server, etc. Any of these general or specialpurpose devices can include any suitable components such as a hardwareprocessor (which can be a microprocessor, digital signal processor, acontroller, etc.), memory, communication interfaces, displaycontrollers, input devices, etc. For example, user device 410 can beimplemented as a personal computer, a laptop computer, a smartphone, atablet computer, a mobile telephone, a wearable computer, a digitalmedia receiver, a set-top box, a smart television, a home entertainmentsystem, a game console, any other suitable computing device, or anysuitable combination thereof.

Communications network 406 can be any suitable computer network orcombination of such networks including the Internet, an intranet, awide-area network (WAN), a local-area network (LAN), a wireless network,a Wi-Fi network, a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a frame relaynetwork, an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), an intranet, etc. Each of communications links 404 and408 can be any communications links suitable for communicating dataamong user devices 410, and server 402, such as network links, dial-uplinks, wireless links, hard-wired links, any other suitablecommunications links, or any suitable combination of such links. Notethat, in some embodiments, multiple servers 402 can be used to provideaccess to different mechanisms associated with presenting media content.For example, system 400 can include a media content discovery server 402that facilitates discovery of media content available from a mediacontent platform that uses the mechanisms described herein, a mediacontent delivery server 402 that responds to requests for the mediacontent by causing a request media content item to be presented to auser, a comment server 402 that receives comments associated withparticular items of media content and causes at least a portion of thecomments to be presented with the particular item of media content, anda recommendation server 402 that uses the mechanisms described herein togenerate a list of recommended media content items based at least inpart on social cues and causes one or more of the recommended mediacontent items to be presented to a user based on a query associated withthe user and determined using the mechanisms described herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example 500 of hardware that can be used toimplement one or more of user devices 410, and servers 402 depicted inFIG. 4 in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subjectmatter. Referring to FIG. 5, user device 410 can include a hardwareprocessor 512, a display 514, an input device 516, and memory 518, whichcan be interconnected. In some embodiments, memory 518 can include astorage device (such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium) forstoring a computer program for controlling hardware processor 512.

Hardware processor 512 can use the computer program to execute themechanisms described herein for presenting recommended content based onsocial cues in accordance with instructions received as a result of, forexample, process 100 described above in connection with FIG. 1 and/orprocess 200 described above in connection with FIG. 2, and to send andreceive data through communications link 408. In some embodiments,hardware processor 512 can send and receive data through communicationslink 408 or any other communication links using, for example, atransmitter, a receiver, a transmitter/receiver, a transceiver, or anyother suitable communication device. Display 514 can include atouchscreen, a flat panel display, a cathode ray tube display, aprojector, a speaker or speakers, and/or any other suitable displayand/or presentation devices. Input device 516 can be a computerkeyboard, a computer mouse, a touchpad, a voice recognition circuit, atouchscreen, and/or any other suitable input device.

Server 402 can include a hardware processor 522, a display 524, an inputdevice 526, and memory 528, which can be interconnected. In someembodiments, memory 528 can include a storage device for storing datareceived through communications link 404 or through other links. Thestorage device can further include a server program for controllinghardware processor 522. In some embodiments, memory 528 can includeinformation stored related to social connections of a user, informationrelated to interactions between a user and social connections of theuser, information related which items of media content have beenconsumed by each user, and/or any other suitable information, andhardware processor 822 can receive queries for recommended media contentfrom user devices 410 and transmit instructions for presentingrecommended media content based on social cues back to a user device 410that requested the media content.

Hardware processor 522 can use the server program to communicate withuser devices 410 as well as provide access to and/or copies of themechanisms described herein. It should also be noted that data receivedthrough communications link 404 or any other communications links can bereceived from any suitable source. In some embodiments, hardwareprocessor 522 can send and receive data through communications link 404or any other communication links using, for example, a transmitter, areceiver, a transmitter/receiver, a transceiver, or any other suitablecommunication device. In some embodiments, hardware processor 522 canreceive commands and/or values transmitted by one or more user devicesand/or one or more users of server 402, such as a user that makeschanges to adjust settings associated with ranking and/or presentingrecommended media content based on social cues. Display 524 can includea touchscreen, a flat panel display, a cathode ray tube display, aprojector, a speaker or speakers, and/or any other suitable displayand/or presentation devices. Input device 526 can be a computerkeyboard, a computer mouse, a touchpad, a voice recognition circuit, atouchscreen, and/or any other suitable input device.

In some embodiments, server 402 can be implemented in one server or canbe distributed as any suitable number of servers. For example, multipleservers 402 can be implemented in various locations to increasereliability and/or increase the speed at which the server cancommunicate with user devices 410. Additionally or alternatively, asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4, multiple servers 402 can beimplemented to perform different tasks associated with the mechanismsdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, the mechanisms described herein can includeserver-side software, client-side software, server-side hardware,client-side hardware, firmware, or any suitable combination thereof. Forexample, these mechanisms can encompass one or more Web pages or Webpage portions (e.g., via any suitable encoding, such as Hyper TextMarkup Language (“HTML”), Dynamic Hyper Text Markup Language (“DHTML”),Extensible Markup Language (“XML”), JavaServer Pages (“JSP”), ActiveServer Pages (“ASP”), Cold Fusion, or any other suitable approaches). Asanother example, these mechanisms can encompass a computer program thatcauses a processor to execute the mechanisms described herein. Forinstance, these mechanisms can encompass a computer program written in aprogramming language recognizable by user device 410, and/or server 402that is executing the mechanisms (e.g., a program written in aprogramming language, such as, Java, C, Objective-C, C++, C#,JavaScript, Visual Basic, HTML, XML, ColdFusion, any other suitableapproaches, or any suitable combination thereof).

It should be noted that, in situations in which the mechanisms describedherein collect personal information about users, or can make use ofpersonal information, the users can be provided with an opportunity tocontrol whether programs or features collect user information (e.g.,information about which media content items a user has consumed,information about engagement of a user with a media content item, etc.),or to control whether and/or how to receive instructions from the serverto use social cues in ranking recommended media content. In addition,certain data can be treated in one or more ways before it is stored orused, so that personally identifiable information is removed. Forexample, a user's identity can be treated so that no personallyidentifiable information can be determined for the user, or a user'sgeographic location can be generalized where location information isobtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that aparticular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user canhave control over how information is collected about the user and usedby a recommendation server and/or other server associated with themechanisms described herein.

In some embodiments, any suitable computer readable media can be usedfor storing instructions for performing the functions and/or processesdescribed herein. For example, in some embodiments, computer readablemedia can be transitory or non-transitory. For example, non-transitorycomputer readable media can include media such as magnetic media (suchas hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), optical media (such as compactdiscs, digital video discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), semiconductor media(such as flash memory, electrically programmable read only memory(EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM),etc.), any suitable media that is not fleeting or devoid of anysemblance of permanence during transmission, and/or any suitabletangible media. As another example, transitory computer readable mediacan include signals on networks, in wires, conductors, optical fibers,circuits, any suitable media that is fleeting and devoid of anysemblance of permanence during transmission, and/or any suitableintangible media.

In some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, the above describedsteps of the processes of FIGS. 1 and 2 can be executed or performed inany order or sequence not limited to the order and sequence shown anddescribed in the figures. Also, some of the above steps of the processesof FIGS. 1 and 2 can be executed or performed substantiallysimultaneously where appropriate or in parallel to reduce latency andprocessing times. Furthermore, it should be noted that FIGS. 1 and 2 areprovided as examples only. At least some of the steps shown in thesefigures may be performed in a different order than represented,performed concurrently, or omitted.

The provision of the examples described herein (as well as clausesphrased as “such as,” “e.g.,” “including,” and the like) should not beinterpreted as limiting the claimed subject matter to the specificexamples; rather, the examples are intended to illustrate only some ofmany possible aspects. It should also be noted that, as used herein, theterm mechanism can encompass hardware, software, firmware, or anysuitable combination thereof

Accordingly, methods, systems, and media for presenting recommendedcontent based on social cues are provided.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated in theforegoing illustrative embodiments, it is understood that the presentdisclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerouschanges in the details of implementation of the invention can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which islimited only by the claims that follow. Features of the disclosedembodiments can be combined and rearranged in various ways.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for presenting recommended content, themethod comprising: receiving, using a hardware processor, a query topresent recommended media content, wherein the query is associated witha user of a user device; determining, using the hardware processor, agroup of relevant media content items based on the query; selecting,using the hardware processor, at least one media content item from thegroup of relevant media content items for presentation to the user basedat least in part on a social relevance score for each media content itemand a contextual relevance score for each media content item, whereinthe selecting includes (i) determining the social relevance score basedon one or more users that are social connections of the user, whereinthe one or more social connections of the user have been determined tohave consumed the at least one media content item, and (ii) determiningthe contextual relevance score that indicates a similarity of each mediacontent item to other media content items previously consumed by theuser, wherein the at least one selected media content item is selectedbased on a relative importance of the social relevance score and thecontextual relevance score; and causing, using the hardware processor,the at least one selected media content item to be presented to the useras a selectable media content item in connection with an indication thatthe at least one selected media content item was consumed by a socialconnection of the one or more social connections of the user.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the at least one selected media content itemis presented in a list of recommended media content items, and whereinan order of media content items in the list of recommended media contentitems is based on at least one of the social relevance score and thecontextual relevance score of each media content item.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the indication includes a number of social connectionsof the user that have consumed the media content item.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one selected media content item isselected based on a popularity of the media content item.
 5. The methodof claim 4, wherein the popularity of the media content item is based ona change in a number of requests for the media content item within apredetermined time period.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the socialrelevance score indicates that the at least one social connection andthe user have each indicated an interest in a particular category ofmedia content.
 7. A system for presenting recommended content, thesystem comprising: a hardware processor that is configured to: receive aquery to present recommended media content, wherein the query isassociated with a user of a user device; determine a group of relevantmedia content items based on the query; select at least one mediacontent item from the group of relevant media content items forpresentation to the user based at least in part on a social relevancescore for each media content item and a contextual relevance score foreach media content item, wherein the selecting comprises (i) determiningthe social relevance score based on one or more users that are socialconnections of the user, wherein the one or more social connections ofthe user have been determined to have consumed the at least one mediacontent item, and (ii) determining the contextual relevance score thatindicates a similarity of each media content item to other media contentitems previously consumed by the user, wherein the at least one selectedmedia content item is selected based on a relative importance of thesocial relevance score and the contextual relevance score; and cause theat least one selected media content item to be presented to the user asa selectable media content item in connection with an indication thatthe at least one selected media content item was consumed by a socialconnection of the one or more social connections of the user.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the at least one selected media content itemis presented in a list of recommended media content items, and whereinan order of media content items in the list of recommended media contentitems is based on at least one of the social relevance score and thecontextual relevance score of each media content item.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the indication includes a number of social connectionsof the user that have consumed the media content item.
 10. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the at least one selected media content item isselected based on a popularity of the media content item.
 11. The systemof claim 10, wherein the popularity of the media content item is basedon a change in a number of requests for the media content item within apredetermined time period.
 12. The system of claim 7, wherein the socialrelevance score indicates that the at least one social connection andthe user have each indicated an interest in a particular category ofmedia content.
 13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containingcomputer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor,cause the processor to perform a method for presenting recommendedcontent, the method comprising: receiving a query to present recommendedmedia content, wherein the query is associated with a user of a userdevice; determining a group of relevant media content items based on thequery; selecting at least one media content item from the group ofrelevant media content items for presentation to the user based at leastin part on a social relevance score for each media content item and acontextual relevance score for each media content item, wherein theselecting includes (i) determining the social relevance score based onone or more users that are social connections of the user, wherein theone or more social connections of the user have been determined to haveconsumed the at least one media content item, and (ii) determining thecontextual relevance score that indicates a similarity of each mediacontent item to other media content items previously consumed by theuser, wherein the at least one selected media content item is selectedbased on a relative importance of the social relevance score and thecontextual relevance score; and causing the at least one selected mediacontent item to be presented to the user as a selectable media contentitem in connection with an indication that the at least one selectedmedia content item was consumed by a social connection of the one ormore social connections of the user.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one selectedmedia content item is presented in a list of recommended media contentitems, and wherein an order of media content items in the list ofrecommended media content items is based on at least one of the socialrelevance score and the contextual relevance score of each media contentitem.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13,wherein the indication includes a number of social connections of theuser that have consumed the media content item.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one selectedmedia content item is selected based on a popularity of the mediacontent item.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim16, wherein the popularity of the media content item is based on achange in a number of requests for the media content item within apredetermined time period.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 13, wherein the social relevance score indicates thatthe at least one social connection and the user have each indicated aninterest in a particular category of media content.